Ore concentrator



F. GROCH.

ORE COI'ECENTRATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULYZQ, 1913.

Patented Apr. 25,1922.

4 SHtEIS-SHEET I.

F. GROCH.

ORE G ONCENTRATOR. APPLICATION FILED 1uLY29. ms.

1 ,41 3,724. 2 Patented Apr. 25, 1922.

I. 4 swans-sum a.

/"I I if 1 I ll F. GROCH.

ORE CONCENTRATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JuLY29. 1918.

4 SHEETSSHEET 4.

PatentedApr. 25, 1-922.

FRANK GROCH, OF COBALT, ONTARIO, CANADA.

ORE CONCENTRATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr. 25,1922.

Original application filed July 3, 1916, Serial No. 107,434. Divided andthis application filed July 29,

1918. Serial No.247,155. I

To all whom it ind/y concern: Be it known that I, FRANK GRooH, a citicmof the United States, residing in Cobalt,

in the Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Ore Concentrators, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention relates to ore concentration in which the metals andmetalloids in an ore-pulp containing them are separated from the gangueby the selective action of a froth or foam producing agent, such as oil,which carries the metallic particles to the surface of a bath while theparticles of gangue are allowed to settle. By thus separating the valuesfrom the gangue the two products may be separately removed and furthertreated.

The object of my invention is -to provide improved apparatus forpracticing'a method of concentration of the kind referred to.

. In such processes it is important that the metalliferous particlesshould be detached or separated from the particles of gangue asthoroughly as possible in order that the buoyant oil or other frothproducing substance and the upward currents of air may cause them torise while the gangue'is settling and it is also important that, wherepossible, the process of separation should be continuous in a singleapparatus and should reduce to a minimum the metallic content. of thetailings.

According to my invention I provide an apparatus wherein a pulpcontaining the material to be separated is thoroughly aerated andwherein the bath is so agitated that substantially all the metallicparticles are caused to rise to the surface of the bath while theparticles of gangue are allowed to settle. The apparatus is soconstructed that the foam or froth containing the values is continuouslyremoved while the settled gangue is also continuously withdrawn andcontains a minimum quantity of values. The apparatus is so constructedthat the gangue is retreated, being'taken from one compartment to thenext and when finallydischarged it has been separated from .ciated withthe air distributer.

practically all of the metallic values contained in the pulp.

The invention comprehends apparatus for aerating liquids in which areceptacle or tank is employed into which liquid pulp mingled with thenecessary oil or other froth-producing agents is introduced. Lo-

cated at the bottom of this receptacle is a rotary headfrom whichextends downwardly a short open-ended pipe which is in communicationwith the. pulp in the bottom of the tank. A conduit is also connectedwith this head and extends upwardly therefrom above the level of thepulp, the upper extremity of the pipe being open for the entrance ofair. The lower pipe member is in communication with the innerextremities of a number of passages formed in the head and whose outerextremities termmate at the periphery of the head while the upwardlyextending conduit is in communication at its lower extremity with anumber of passages which also extend outwardly to the periphery of thehead. As the head is rotated the centrifugal force draws pulp from thebottom of the tank and discharges it through certain passages of thehead to the periphcry of the latter while the same force draws airdownwardly through the upwardly extending conduit into the head anddischarges it through other passages at the periphery of the head.

In one form of the apparatus a series'of agitation compartments isprovided which terial may pass successively through the agitation andsettling-compartments of the apparatus. At the delivery end of theapparatus a chamber is provided to receive the tailings and this chambermay be equlpped with a float valve for regulating the discharge; Thedetails of construction of this form of the apparatus will behereinafter more fully described.

In another form of the apparatus some of the gangue is taken from eachsettling compartment and returned to the same agitation compartment fromwhich it came, the gangue from each agitation compartment which does notpass to the settling compartment being conveyed through a port to achamber below the next agitation compartment from which it passes to asettling com partment. Other features of this form of the apparatus willbe described later on.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a View in side elevation andpartly in section showing one form of apparatus constructed inaccordance wlth my invention.

Figure 2 shows a transverse section thereof on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 shows a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, someparts beingbroken away in order to better illustrate other parts.

Figure 4 shows in vertical section the combined air and pulpdistributers.

Figure 5 is a plan view of the combined agitator and distributers withthe air supply tube in section.

Figure 6 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of a modified form of theapparatus.

Figure 7 shows a transverse section on the line 7-'-7 of Fig. 6.

Figure 8 shows a horizontal section of the modified form of apparatusshown in Fig. 6.

Figure 9 shows a vertical section of a slightly modified form ofdistributer.

The vessel A is divided into a series of agitationcompartments and aseries of settling compartments. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the vesselhas a fiat horizontal bottom a with sidesa' which incline upwardly andoutwardly and on each side of the vessel there is an overflow launder aprovided with a discharge pipe Q The ends of the vessel are closed byend-pieces a and a as shown. Upright longitudinal partitions a dividethe vessel into three sections, the middle section being subdivided bytrans verse partitions a. into agitation compartments B, B B B The twoouter sections are divided by-transverse partitions 6 into a series ofsettling compartments G, C C C. p I preferably employ two sets ofsettling compartments as shown but only one set need be used.

The agitation compartments are all arranged above a false bottom D andthe f connected at its lower end with an air space between this falsebottom and the bottom a of the vessel is divided by transversepartitions 03 into a series of chambers E, 1 1 E E The severalcompartments and chamberscommunicate with each other in the mannerhereinafter described.

In each agitation compartment there is a combined agitator anddistributer'F. each of which comprises a vertically arranged tubedistributer 7 which communicates with the tube and which is arrangedabove a pulp distributer 7. The tubes and the distributers are rotatedbygearing 5 operated by a power shaft G.

Various forms of distributers and agitators may be employed, but inFigs. 4 and 5 I have shown the preferred construction.- As thereillustrated two circular plates or discs 71-, h carry between themblades k disposed as shown in Fig. 5, and the construction issuch thatas the distributers are rotated air will be discharged by centrifugalforce from the periphery of the distributer. The tubes f are all open,air enters at their upper ends and passes down to the air distributers fand is thrown centrifugally' outwards intb the agitation compartments.The pulp distributers f are formed in a similar way, blades 71. beingmounted. between the plates h and k These blades may be disposed invarious ways, but the construction should be such that the pulp whichenters the center of the distributer shall be thrown outwards bycentrifugal force. Preferably the upper disc h is perforated as shown sothat air will not only pass outward from the periphery of thedistributer but will also pass upwardly therefrom and thus increase thedistribution of the air for agitation and flotation purposes.

The distributers of course operate to draw air and pulp to their centersas well as to discharge air and pulp from their peripheries. It will beobserved that the distributor F is in the form of a rotary head ormember and is provided with a set of passages extending from its centralportion towards its periphery which communicate with the hollow memberor shaft f, which i in turn communicates with the atmosphere above theliquid in the. tank, and said head is provided with another set ofsimilar passages having both ends of each passage in communication withthe liquid in the tank. The several passages above described areproduced by the blades k and h 'between the upper and lower discs andthe intermediate disc. I i i The pulp is mixed with oil or otherfrothproducing agent preferably before it is fed to the apparatus but itmay be. supplied in any suitable way.

The pulp may be fed to the tube f of the; 130

' last chamber E of the series communicates.

first agitator through a supply conveyer a: as indicated in Fig. 1. Whenthe pulp is thus supplied it enters with the air and becomes, to somedegree, mixed therewith be-. fore it passes out from the agitator ordistributer F. Pulp may also be delivered through a supply pipeI-I whichenters the first chamber E in the series. Each chamber E, E E, Ecommunicates with the agitation compartment above it through a tube Iwhich, as. shown in Fig. 1, has a threaded connection with the'partitionD and which enters the pulp distributer in said agitation compartment.The capacity of each of said tubes may be regulated by an adjustablebolt J in an obvious manner. Each agitation compartment communicateswith a corresponding settling compartment on each side of it throughopenings 3 disposed between slats or baffles As the pulp rises in theagitation compartments it passes through the openings between the slatsand these slats or bafiies serve to retard the upward air currents sothat when the pulp passes to the settling chambers quiet settling maybe. more efliciently accomplished. Each settling compartment or eachpair of settling compartments communicates with a chamber below the nextagitation compartment in the series as indicated at c in Figs. 1, 2 and3 of the drawings. The

by means of an opening-e with a chamber L for the tailings or gangueafter the metallic values have been separated. This chamber L isprovided with a discharge opening 6 provided with a valve e controlledby a float e in well known ways.

If it be necessary to maintain an even fluid level in all the settlingcompartments, it

can be accomplished by providing openings or communications between saidcompartments controlled by slides or valves N.

As before stated, the pulp may be fed to the first tube f by means of "asupply pipe :0, or it may be fed to the first chamber E by a pipe H. Infact pulp may be supplied simultaneously to the first agitation com.-partment from both of these sources. The several agitators anddistributer'sare rotated simultaneously and continuously.

' first compartment the pulp isdistributed and thoroughly mixed with theair thrown out by the agitator. The agitated pulp passes through theopenings y into the settling chambers C'*. The froth with the metallicvalues passes over into the-launders a while the settled material passesthrough the opening a to the chamber E below ,the-

second agitation compartment B In this compartment the settled pulp fromthe first compartment, deprivedof some of its values, is thoroughlyagitated and aerated and passes to the settling compartments oneach sideof it, the froth rising and overflowing In the into the launders a andthe settled material passing through the openings 0 to the chamber Ebelow the third agitation compartment. The material in like .mannerpasses through the other compartments in theseries, the frothoverflowing into the launders and the gangue passing to the chamber L.The froth may be conveyed away for further treatment. Preferably but notnecessarily, the troughs or launders are continuous and preferably eachagitation compartment is provided with a settling compartment on eachside of it,'although obviously it is only necessary to provide eachagitation compartment with a single settling compartment.

By this apparatus a thorough commingling of the pulp with the air isaccomplished in all of the compartments. Much of the. metallicvalues isremoved from the pulp in the first compartment and as the materialpasses through theseveral compartments the remaining metallic values aregradually separated so that the gangue which reaches the-chamber L ispractically free from all materials of value which it is desiredtorecover.

In Figs. 6 to 9 of the ilrawings I have shown some modifications. Muchof the apparatus is similar to that before described and the parts aresimilarly lettered. In this case, however, ,the bottom a of the vesselis preferably inclined. The agitators and distributers are of the sameconstruction as those previously described but in this case the tubes Iare shown as being rigidly connected with the distributers androtatingwith them. Instead of employing'a continuous partition D, asshown in Fig.'1, a series of false bottoms 0 are used and the .tubes Iextend through said false bottoms and are free to rotate therein. Thesettling compartments are similar to those before describedand-communicate with the agitation compartments in a similar way exceptthat each chamber below an agitation compartment communicates with thesettling compartments associated therewith through openings at, that isto say, the settling compartmentsC communicate with the chamber E belowthe agitation compartment B. The compartments C communicate with thechamber E below the agitation compartment B and so on, so that in thisway material which has passed from each agitation compartment isreturned thereto for recommunicates with the chamber E in the mannerindicated. The agitated pulp passes from the first agitation compartmentB to the settling compartments on each side of it and is returned in themanner before described. Settled material in the first compartment Bpasses through the port 'or opening 1' to the chamber E below the secondagitation compartment and in like manner the material passes from anagitation compartment to a settling compartment throughout the seriesand from the several agitation compartments to chambers below thesucceeding agitation compartments and so on until the ganiue or tailingsfinally reaches the chamber from which it is disis received by thetroughs or launders a and conveyed away for further treatment.

It will, of course, be understood that any, desired number ofcompartments may be employed for agitation, settling, etc. The specificnumber shown is not essential. The apparatus is self contained requiringno auxiliary apparatus to supply air under pressure, the rotaryagitators serving to in duce or draw in air which is forcibly dischargedinto the agitation compartments where it mingles throroughly with pulpwhich is induced and' distributed by the rotary'pulp distributersassociated with the rotary air distributers'.

While I prefer to employ the chambers E, etc. below the agitationcompartments it is obvious that such chambers constitute part of themeans for conveying the settled pulp from a settling compartment to thenext agitation compartment in the series and that a more directconnection might be employed.

In case the pulp is fed to the first agitation compartment by way of thetube '7 only, as indicated at an in Fig. 1, it will not be necessary toprovide a pulp distributer in the first compartment as the pulp, isdistributed by the same apparatus which distributes the air.

This application is a division of my appli cation for patent No.107,434, filed July 3, 1916, in which I have shown an apparatus forconcentrating ores comprising" a series of agitation compartments, eachprovided with means for distributing air and pulp therein, a series ofsettling compartments communicating with the agitation compartments, apulp-receiving chamber below each agitation compartment, and means forconveying settled'material from the lower portion of one settlingcompartment to the chamber below the next agitation compartment. it donot herein claim such subject matter as claims thereto are made in myapplication for patent No. 107,434, filed July 3, 1916.

I claim as my invention:

1. Aerating apparatus, including a tank, a

vided with an air passage extending from its central portion to itsperiphery, and a hollow member through which said passage.

is in communication with the atmosphere charged, while the frothcontaining values above the liquid which the tank is adapted to contain,and another similar liquid conducting passage having both of its ends incom-- munication with the liquid in the tank.

3. Aerating apparatus, including a tank, a. rotary member locatedtherein and provided with a plurality of independent air passagesextending from its central portion ,to its periphery, and a hollowmember through which said passages are in communication with theatmosphere above the liquid, which the tank is adapted to contain, and

anotherliquid conducting passage havingboth of its ends in communicationwith the liquid in the tank, and means for rotating the said member at aspeed to develop sufficient centrifugal force to overcome the pressureof the liquid in the tank, whereby air and liquid are taken into thesaid member and discharged at its periphery.

4. Aerating apparatus, including a tank, a member mounted to rotatetherein and com posed of a head having a number of passages extendingfrom its central portion outwardly to its periphery, a tubular memberconnected with the head and extending above the liquid in the tank, saidtubular member being open to the atmosphere at its upper extremity andin communication at its lower extremity with the passages of the head,the rotary memberhaving a depending conduit open at its lower extremityto allow the liquid of the tank to enter, the rotary member having anumber of passages in communication with the said liquid-receivingconduit, said last named passages being open ended and extending fromthe central portion of the r0- tary member to its periphery.

5. A gas-diifusing device comprising a rotary head having a set ofpassages for gas extending outwardly away from the center towards theperiphery of the head and having means for admitting air to the innerends of said passages, a set ofliquid-conducting passages also extendingtowards the periphery of the head and which are connected with means foradmitting liquid to their inner ends.

6. Aerating apparatus comprising a tank having an overflow at its upperportion and passes outwards from the hollow shaft, and

means for continuously, supplying it with provided also with anotherhorizontal pas- 10 liquid, :1 vertical hollow shaft within the sagethrough which liquid is conducted tank open to the atmosphere above theoverfrom the tank to the periphery of the rotary fiow portion of thetank, a rotary member member.

within the tank provided with a horizontal In testimony whereof, I havehereunto passage extending from its central portion subscribed my name.

towards its periphery and through which air FRANK GROCH.

